The Road from Baghdád to Constantinople

A retelling based on The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Vol. 1, by Adib Taherzadeh, which quotes Shoghi Effendi's account of the journey in God Passes By. The passages in quotation marks are from these books.

At noon on 3 May 1863, the twelfth day of Riḍván, Bahá'u'lláh left the Garden of Riḍván outside Baghdád on the first stage of His journey to Constantinople. Nabíl, who saw it, recalled: "Numerous were the heads which, on every side, bowed to the dust at the feet of His horse, and kissed its hoofs, and countless were those who pressed forward to embrace His stirrups." Taherzadeh adds that a Muslim admirer, Shaykh 'Abdu'l-Ḥamíd, ran some ten miles in front of His horse as He left the city.

Bahá'u'lláh Himself later wrote: "He (God) it was Who enabled Me to depart out of the city (Baghdád), clothed with such majesty as none, except the denier and the malicious, can fail to acknowledge."

The first halt was at Firayját. The caravan left there on 9 May: Bahá'u'lláh, members of His family, among them His brothers Áqáy-i-Kalím and Mírzá Muḥammad-Qulí, and twenty-six of His disciples. Shoghi Effendi describes "fifty mules, a mounted guard of ten soldiers with their officer, and seven pairs of howdahs, each pair surmounted by four parasols." It moved by easy stages across the uplands of eastern Anatolia toward the port of Sámsun on the Black Sea. Bahá'u'lláh rode at times on horseback and at times in the howdah kept for Him; most of His companions went on foot.

Námiq Páshá, the governor of Baghdád, had given a written order, and by virtue of it Bahá'u'lláh was received with enthusiasm by governors, judges, muftis, officials and notables all along the route. At Karkúk, Irbíl and Mosul, where He stayed three days, at Nisíbín, Mardín and Díyár-Bakr, where He halted for a couple of days, at Khárpút, at Sívás, and in other villages and hamlets, a delegation came out to meet Him before He arrived and another went with Him some distance when He left. At some stations festivities were held in His honour, and villagers brought food for Him.

A fellow-traveller described the passage through Mardín: "we were preceded by a mounted escort of government soldiers, carrying their banners, and beating their drums in welcome." Nabíl recorded that, by the unanimous testimony of people they met on a road constantly used by governors travelling between Constantinople and Baghdád, "never before had they witnessed ... any one travel in such state, dispense such hospitality to all, and accord to each so great a share of his bounty."

Taherzadeh records how the companions served on the road. Jináb-i-Munib, a poet and calligrapher from Káshán, chose to walk the whole way. On many nights, 'Abdu'l-Bahá recalled, He and Munib walked on either side of Bahá'u'lláh's howdah, and Munib carried a lantern in front of it. Áqá Mírzá Maḥmúd of Káshán and Áqá Riḍá of Shíráz walked ahead of the howdah all the way to Sámsun and cooked for the party at every halting-place; they were the last to sleep and the first to rise. Darvísh Ṣidq-'Alí served as groom, walking beside the convoy all day singing poems and caring for the horses at night. There was famine in the region, and while the others rested, 'Abdu'l-Bahá and Mírzá Ja'far-i-Yazdí would go to the surrounding villages to buy straw and other provisions for the animals, which could take hours.

As He approached Sámsun and saw the Black Sea from His howdah, Bahá'u'lláh revealed the Lawḥ-i-Hawdaj (Tablet of the Howdah). In Sámsun the Chief Inspector of the province, with several páshás, called on Him and was His guest at luncheon. Seven days later He was put on board a Turkish steamer, and three days after that, at noon on 16 August 1863, He landed at Constantinople.

This is a retelling. For the fuller account, see The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Vol. 1, by Adib Taherzadeh.

Taherzadeh, A.. (1974). *The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh (Vol. 1 — Baghdád 1853-63)*. George Ronald.